Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Monday Madness: Slide painting

Isnt there something wonderfully sublime about activities that are really messy?

Especially if they are held outdoors, where washing up can be done at a toss of a mug of water?

And even more especially if they cost next to nothing to do?

Well, we did one of the best/ cheapest/ easy to clean and yet beautiful art creations in our playground Monday yesterday.

One of the activities in the big draw this Sunday is rolling a paint dipped ball down a slide and drawing lines with it. When i saw it, it was like a light bulb going on in my head.

Ofcourse, I couldnt buy that much paint and so i made my own using the best home made paint recipe for drip painting: 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup water, mix and add food coloring to your heart's content. Takes about five seconds to make.

We brought the paints, different balls, some coconut and avocado seeds and a hot wheels car down to the playground.

And then the kids went crazy. After the first round, i realized that I had forgotten something important and asked husband to bring down a bucket of water

The children explored the materials in different ways. The prints are better when you roll the ball slowly, whereas they make drops when they roll fast. The same goes for the car. I guess different kinds of paint would give different effects, and perhaps we should do a multi paint exploration next time using different variety of home made paints.

There was a very unique drip pattern made on the slide as well.

The slide that we played on had two side by side, and Sophia really enjoyed dipping paint on her hand and going down one slide while dragging her hand through the paper on the other slide.

They were on their third sheet when Jessica came along.

"Mom, Jessica just came and there is very little paint!", said Sophia in her highly dramatic way.

"Ok..", I said.

She ran away. The kids were still playing, dragging cars and such. She was back after ten minutes

"The paints are all finished", she said.

"Thats good", I said.

"But Jessica just came!"

"Ok!"

"Mommy! Can you get more paint?"

But it was time to clean up, and this was one of those times when cleaning up was almost as much fun as the art. The girls poured the water down the slide, scrubbed and poured some more, washed their hands and when all the work was done, they dunked their feet, hands and cars in water and made hand prints, foots prints and car prints.

Anjali is officially my co-facilitator for Monday madness. She helps me identify ideas of things she wants to share with her friends at the playground. So here are some of the upcoming activities

1. 3D sculptures

2. Make a fairy garden: there is a tree in the side of the playground which is on a brick elevation. A lot of grass grows under the tree. Usually this grassy area is full of litter - tissues, chip packets etc. We have an idea to make fairy houses, swings, lanterns etc and turn this space into a fairy garden. Ofcourse, this is a project that has to be spread over several sessions and the assembly will be the last part of it.

3. Cornstarch side walk paint rangoli.

4. Sapna wanted something where they could dip their feet in paint and make painted footprints, but I have to think of the right kind of material.

8 comments:

Love it! Looks like loads of fun. We love messy play. I would love for you to add this to my weekly Mom's Library Weekly Link-Up.http://heymommychocolatemilk.blogspot.com/2012/10/moms-library-link-up-3-for-me.html

Delighted to have found your blog and your slide post. A great idea for next to no money. Just popped over from the Imagination Tree and would love you to join me on Country Kids too. It is all about outdoor play for children. I think all your upcoming posts will fit in perfectly. The linky is every Saturday to Thursday.

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On 4th April 2007, Anjali Curic was born, changing our lives forever. From happy, to tearful, to harassed, to jubiliant, our lives have gone through a specrum of emotions, most of which can be attributed to her.

I guess, as parents, we have too much help and not enough to do, so on 18th January 2009, the stork hand delivered Sophia. Centering, sweet, smiling, Sophia is as concentrated as Anjali is diverse, as contemplative as Anjali is energetic, and it is a sure pleasure to watch them both.

We thank God for the blessing of these two wonderful girls. There are times that we do want to pull our hairs apart, but all in all, we have been blessed with them